


Promises

by starlightened



Series: My Darling Raincloud [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 08:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13027350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightened/pseuds/starlightened
Summary: An alternative ending to We Intertwined.Major spoilers for Episode Ignis ahead.





	Promises

Raine was standing in Dave’s kitchen at his house in Lestallum, staring at the pregnancy test in her hand. The little pink _plus_ symbol almost seemed to be mocking her as she gripped the plastic a little tighter, trying her best to quell the number of emotions racing through her mind.

“Well, don’t look so happy,” Dave joked, leaning across the island counter to pat her twice on the arm. “This is good. Right?”

Raine snapped out of it. “Yeah,” she said, unconvincingly. “I mean…yeah. It is.”

Dave raised an eyebrow at her. There wasn’t much she could get past her old friend.

She sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat. “It’s just…he’s been gone for months. And I just heard about what’s been happening in Altissia. It’s all over the news.” Raine felt her throat starting to constrict, her free hand instinctively coming to rest over the base of her stomach. “And Ignis is out there, and I can’t get a hold of him, and—”

“Hey, hey,” Dave rounded the island and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “He’s gonna be fine, alright? He’s smart, resourceful. And the others will keep him safe. Don’t you worry about that.”

“I know,” she sniffled. “But I just—”

 _Blessed was the man born for the throne—yet he, so impure of heart, was denied by the Stone and cast into ignominy…  
_  
Raine gasped, clutching her head as images flashed in her vision. She gripped the counter’s edge as she faltered, Dave’s voice a distant echo. She saw a man, extravagantly dressed with red hair to his shoulders, smirking at her through the void.

 _Feeding on the dusk, and embracing the darkness, he spurned the dawn, effecting a life untouched by time. And through the coming of night eternal, he seeks to exact vengeance upon his own blood…  
_  
Just as suddenly as the vision came, it disappeared. Raine was back in Dave’s kitchen, gasping for breath.

“What happened?” Dave demanded, trying to catch her gaze so she could ground herself. “Are you okay?”

Something wasn’t right.

Raine let out a gasp as if someone was punching her over and over, each blow nearly knocking her off her feet. She whimpered as she nearly collapsed, Dave being the only reason that she was upright at all. 

“What’s going on?” she whimpered, tears emerging in the corners of her eyes. “What—”

And then…

 _Fire.  
_  
That was the only way to describe it. Fire burning through her entire being, behind her eyes, through every vein from her finger tips to her toes. Raine let out a shriek at the agony, clutching her face, as Dave scooped her up to move her to the couch.

There was nothing he could do but helplessly watch as she thrashed and screamed, tears leaking down and staining her cheeks.

 _If thou dost wish to save the King, a sacrifice must be made.  
_  
And then a voice, clear as day, the voice of her love…  
 _  
I choose to sacrifice my life.  
_  
Dave’s heart stopped as Raine reached her arm up, grasping at nothing. His name left her throat in a strangled cry.

The pain worsened still. It was as if she’d been dunked in a vat of acid, the tang of copper on her tongue. Smoke filled her lungs, and she couldn’t breathe. Dave ran and grabbed a cold washcloth to try and cool her down, but as Raine’s skin turned a ghostly shade of white, he knew that there was nothing he could do.

Ignis was in trouble.

—

Ignis allowed his eyes to close. He knew he probably shouldn’t have, especially after forging a deal with the Kings of Lucis to take his life to save Noct’s. But the quiet was so inviting. And the void was such a beautiful shade of blue.

 _Blue…  
_  
Just like his wife’s hair. 

He did not regret his sacrifice, did not regret doing what he needed to do in order to help fulfill Noctis’ destiny. But if there was one thing he did want before his life slipped away, it would be to see her face once more.

“Ignis?”

His eyes opened, but his body was unable to move. Too badly burned, energy spent. He barely managed to turn his head ever so slightly, and a sigh left him as he saw Raine kneeling at his side.

She looked pale, and her eyes were red with tears. She reached over to touch him, but she looked scared, as if her fingertips upon his skin would cause him to fall apart.

“What happened?” she managed to whisper, teardrops falling from her eyes onto his burnt flesh. The coolness was almost soothing, a balm amidst all the pain.

“I had to, my love,” he answered, his voice hoarse. “I’m sorry.”

Raine’s hands hovered over him, trying to assess the damage before realizing that his whole body was covered in cracks and burns. The Ring felt heavy on his finger, and her eyes stopped on it for a moment before returning back to his face.

“Oh, Ignis,” she mumbled, her breathing ragged as panic rose in her chest. Her hands came to cradle his head, and she leaned down to rest her forehead against his. “No, no, no, no, no…”

It took all of his strength, but he raised his arm to place his palm on her cheek, wiping away her tears with his thumb. “Be strong, my love,” he whispered, his eyelids starting to slip closed.

“I can’t lose you too,” Raine cried, her body shaking with sobs. “I love you, Ignis, please don’t leave me…”

“It’ll be alright,” he promised, though he wasn’t at all sure if his words were true. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore. I had to do this, to save Noct, to save us all. I love you, darling, please don’t cry for me.”

“You don’t understand,” Raine whimpered. “I’m pregnant.”

Ignis was stunned. She leaned back so that he could look into her eyes. They were honest and true, as they always were, and for the first time in so long, he felt helpless.

“Raine…” he whispered, the darkness slowly starting to creep into his vision. “I’m so sorry, my love. I’m so sorry…”

Raine leaned down and kissed him, and feeling her was such bliss after so much agony. She pulled away, only barely, and just held him. 

“Please don’t leave me,” she begged, her voice quiet and trembling. “Please don’t leave _us._ I love you so much, please, please…”

His hand fell back to his side. “If this is goodbye, Raine, tell our child that I love them, just as I love you. I will always be with you. I promise.”

She sniffled, and he felt her shaking her head. “You promised you would come back to me.”

“And I will,” he swore. “But perhaps…just not in this life.”

Raine let out a broken cry and held him closer. But then suddenly, she heard a voice.

“Ignis!”

It was Noctis.

She pulled back and lightly patted his cheek with her hand to keep him awake. “Ignis, please, keep your eyes open,” she implored. “Your friends are coming. Please, just hold on a little longer.”

Ignis tried, but his eyelids just felt so heavy, and he felt so cold. Raine’s voice became more and more distant as she begged and pleaded, her touch fading away. And he knew he was going to have to let her down her again. 

_“Goodbye…”  
_  
And everything went black.

—

Raine jolted awake. She wasn’t in Dave’s house anymore. Disoriented, she looked around. Sterile white walls, the continuous beeping of a heart monitor. She was in the hospital.

Dave was seated next to her bedside, slouched in his chair. At the sound of her panicked breathing, and the spiking of her EKG meter, he bolted up. 

“Hey, hey,” he laid a hand on her shoulder to gently push her back against the sheets. “You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

Raine’s eyes darted across the room, unable to focus amidst her panic. She turned to face Dave, her vision glazed over with tears. “Is the baby okay?”

He nodded. “The baby is fine. Thank the Six.”

Raine let out a small sigh, running her palm over her stomach. “Yeah.”

A heavy silence fell between the two, only to be interrupted by Raine’s sniffling as she tried to keep her breathing even.

Dave brought his hands together and leaned his forearms onto his knees. “So,” he asked quietly. “Did you see him?”

Raine bit the inside of her lip, staring straight ahead at nothing. She gave a nod.

Dave was almost scared to ask. “Is he alright?”

Raine let out a hitched breath. She shook her head before covering her face with her hands, curling into a ball as her body was wracked with sobs.

—

Raine was discharged from the hospital later that day. She could barely walk, her body too weighed down by grief. Dave helped bring her home, half dragging and half carrying her back to her house. He sat her down on the couch, and asked her if she needed anything.

“I think I just want to be alone,” she finally managed. Dave sighed, but agreed, leaving her alone in the deafening quiet.

Raine brought her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes. She hoped at she prayed that she would see him in the void, that she could hear his voice just one more time.

But she was met with nothing but darkness.

She couldn’t feel him anymore.

Defeated, she laid herself down on the couch and cried herself to sleep.

—

A week went by.

Raine could barely get herself off the couch. Dave came by to make sure she was eating and bathing, but eventually she would just go back to being nearly catatonic, not uttering a word to anyone.

Dave reminded her that she was carrying a child, Ignis’ child, and that he wouldn’t have wanted her to be this way. He didn’t like guilting her like this, but it was the only way he could get her to eat anything.

One day, Raine was sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket, staring at the wall as if she could bring the roof of her house down onto her head. Maybe then, the pain would stop.

She heard the door open, assuming it was Dave coming back to hound her again. She irritatedly turned away from the foyer, clutching the blanket a little closer to her body. But then…

“Raine?”

Her heart stopped.

She immediately shot up from the couch and turned just in time to see Ignis standing at the threshold. She could barely see him through the ocean of tears, but it was him, he was there, standing at her doorway. 

_Alive.  
_  
Her body moved automatically, running into the circle of his arms. Her body shook as she clutched onto the material of his suit jacket, breathing him in for the first time in months. He held onto her just as tightly, trying his best to keep his breathing calm so that he could anchor her in his embrace.

“I missed you, my love,” he said, his voice wavering. “I missed you so much.”

Raine let out a quiet laugh. “I thought you were dead.”

He leaned back and he wiped her tears so that she could finally see him. His face held a few new small scars, but there was no evidence of the burns that nearly turned him to ash. “It’ll take a little more than a sacrificial pact with the Ancient Kings to keep me away from you.”

She slid his glasses off his face and set them aside so that she could look into his eyes. He was so beautiful, and when her gaze met his, she saw her other half, the soul that they shared, the bond that could never be broken.

Raine cupped his face and pulled him down to her, and he kissed her with everything that he had. It was a kiss that was a promise of a better tomorrow, one where they wouldn’t have to be apart. He held her close and savoured the taste of her lips and tongue, saying a silent prayer to the gods for bringing him back to her.

They pulled apart, finally, and the smile that spread across her face could have brought the light back to all of Eos.

“I’m home,” he promised. “I’ll never leave you again.”

“I know,” she whispered, leaning it to steal another kiss. “You always keep your promises.”

**Author's Note:**

> nifwrites.tumblr.com


End file.
